September 24, 2007

Blue-ear disease figure rises to 290,000 pigs, says China

Blue-ear disease has affected 290,000 pigs in China since the start of this year, a senior agricultural official said Monday.

Vice Agricultural Minister Gao Hongbin told a news conference the data was from "recently," without giving an exact date.

China said late August that 257,000 pigs in the country had been infected with blue-ear disease, also known as Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome.

In July, the government reported that 47,000 pigs had been affected by the disease.